The UN has condemned what it called “extremely disturbing” reports of entire families being killed in north-west Syria as clashes between security forces and Assad regime loyalists resulted in the country’s highest death toll since the start of its revolution in 2011.
The UN commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called on Sunday for investigations into the killings and for perpetrators to be held accountable. “We are receiving extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat [surrendered] fighters, being killed,” he said in a statement. “The killing of civilians in coastal areas in north-west Syria must cease, immediately.”
Fighting began on Thursday after fighters loyal to the ousted Assad regime ambushed security forces in Jableh, in the coastal Latakia province, sparking a wave of revenge attacks, including against civilians belonging to the minority Alawite sect. Clashes erupted once again on Sunday after security forces were attacked by Assad loyalists at a power plant in Banias, Latakia.
To crush the rebellion, the Syrian government called for reinforcements, with thousands of fighters converging on Syria’s coast from all over the country. Though fighters are nominally under the auspices of the new Syrian government, militias still persist, some of which have been implicated in past human rights abuses and are relatively undisciplined.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that more than 1,000 people had been killed in the attack, including 745 civilians, 125 members of Syrian security forces and 148 Assad loyalists.
Death tolls from the two days of fighting varied wildly, with a second rights group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) saying 148 civilians were killed by Assad loyalists and 327 civilians and captured militants were killed by Syrian security forces.
The Syrian government has not released figures for casualties, and the Guardian has not been able to independently verify the number of deaths.
On Sunday, Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said the developments were within “expected challenges” and called for national unity. “We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace; we can live together,” he said in a video circulated by Arab media, speaking at a mosque in his childhood neighbourhood of Mazzah in Damascus.
Later on Sunday, the Syrian presidency announced the formation of a seven-person committee, comprising judges and one lawyer, tasked with investigating the killings of civilians and security forces in north-west Syria. The committee, which was formed to “achieve civil peace and uncover the truth”, will issue a report with its findings in 30 days.
The US and Russia have asked the UN security council to meet behind closed doors on Monday over the escalating violence, diplomats said on Sunday.
The wide-ranging, coordinated assault was the biggest challenge to the country’s Islamist authorities, three months after opposition fighters led by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian government has said “individual actions” led to the killing of civilians and that the influx of fighters on the coast had led to human rights violations.
An adviser to Syria’s foreign ministry estimated that 4,000 Assad loyalists were involved in the attacks. Videos showed the bodies of Syrian security officers strewn on the streets as well as bodies seemingly buried hastily in a mass grave in the coastal province of Tartus. The Guardian was unable to independently verify the contents of these videos.
In his statement, Türk said: “There are reports of summary executions on a sectarian basis by unidentified perpetrators, by members of the caretaker authorities’ security forces, as well as by elements associated with the former government.”
The wave of revenge killings, mostly targeting Alawites, by Syrian security forces in Syria’s coastal communities has struck fear into the Alawite community. The Syrian coast is heavily populated by the sect, from which the deposed Syrian president hailed, though most Alawites were not associated with the Assad regime.
Videos showed the bodies of dozens of people in civilian clothes piled up in the town of al-Mukhtariya, where more than 40 people were killed at one time, according to the SNHR.
Other videos showed fighters in security uniforms killing people point-blank, ordering men to bark like dogs and beating captives. The Guardian was not able to independently verify these videos.
A man from the town of al-Sanobar, Latakia, detailed how gunmen killed at least 14 of his neighbours who were all from the Arris family, including a 75-year-old father and his three sons in front of the mother.
“After they killed the father and his boys, they asked the mother to take her gold off, or they would kill her,” said the man who was close to the family but spoke under the condition of anonymity for his safety.
Another person in Latakia said power and water to the area had been cut off for the past day and they had been sheltering in their house, scared of the militants on the streets. “There’s no water and no power for more than 24 hours. The factions are killing anyone who appears in front of them; the corpses are piled up in the streets. This is collective punishment,” they said.
Rights groups said a real commitment to transitional justice and an inclusive government was crucial to preventing Syria from spiralling into a cycle of violence. Syria’s transitional authorities are due to announce a new government this month, which will be scrutinised closely for how representative it is of Syria’s religious and ethnic diversity after this week’s violence.
Syria’s new authorities will probably face more difficulties in getting international sanctions lifted, particularly US sanctions, after the wave of violence on Syria’s coast. Damascus has been courting international powers to help its beleaguered economy by removing sanctions, which are seen as one of the main obstacles to the country’s stability.
Western powers have stressed that respect for the country’s minority populations will be key to removing economic sanctions.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, condemned the attacks, which he said were committed by “radical Islamic terrorists” and called for Damascus to hold the perpetrators accountable. “The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families,” he said.
